I'm hand quilting one now for someone who bought it at an estate sale. It is OLD; hand pieced hexies. I bought the quilting needles; but because they are SO short I can't handle them well. So I'm using a longer needle and an Aunt Becky. I don't work well with a thimble either; I use a big one on my thumb to push the needle when going up then when going from r-l or down, then I use one on my index finger but have to ditch it to pull the needle out; so a constant taking the thimble off and on. Never could get the hang of working all the way through with it on. Haven't hand quilted for over 30 years, so it's taken a while to get a rhythm going, but am getting there. Good luck.